Bone Ornament, Marquesas Islands

tiki ivi p'o
height 1 11/16in (4.3cm)

Provenance
French Private Collection
California Private Collection

Carol Ivory notes, "In Marquesan art, Gauguin said, there is the face, always the face. It is a distinctive face, with its arched eyebrows, large and often outlined eyes, flattened nose, and wide band of a mouth." (Newton, Douglas (ed.), Art of the South Seas - The Collections of the Museé Barbier-Muller, Prestel, 1999, p. 339)

"The importance of the human body cannot be stressed enough in Marquesan art, particularly carvings. The human body is the main motif, as well as being an important medium or vehicle in itself. The human image is generically called tiki. . ." (Ivory, Carol, (ibid.), p. 338)